5 Locations and 300% Member Growth—Managed in One System
20+ YEARS OF JIU-JITSU EXPERIENCE
300% GROWTH IN ACTIVE MEMBERS IN 8 MONTHS
5 LOCATIONS ACROSS THE HALTON REGION
4+ YEARS ON GYMDESK
From Rio to Five Schools
Luiz moved from Rio to Canada in 2013 with an IT background and a brown belt in jiu-jitsu. After COVID, he and his 50/50 partner Greg — a strong brown belt and the marketing mind behind OCTA — shook hands and started building. When they opened the third school, Luiz chose not to renew his IT contract. He’s been all-in on OCTA ever since.
He Needed Something For Day One and Beyond
Luiz comes from IT. He knew exactly what it meant to rely on a tool that was cranky, buggy, and not smooth to use. When OCTA was starting, he needed something he could open every single day — for leads, for billing, for promotions — without it fighting him. The wrong choice would cost him more time than it saved.
“I don’t see Gymdesk as a supplier. I see Gymdesk more as a partner in this journey.”
A Tool He’d Actually Use Every Day
Luiz found Gymdesk before OCTA opened. He compared features, tested it, and made the call: good CRM, email capabilities, automation, smooth billing, integrations. His first student registered and paid through Gymdesk a month and a half before the doors opened. Four years later, he’s still on it every day — leads, promotions, belt tracking, the franchise dashboard, blast emails across all five locations.
The Operational Shift
Without the Right Tools
- Splitting time between an IT contract and running five schools
- Leads coming in with no unified system to handle them
- No way to see all locations in one place
- Manually tracking who was due for a stripe or belt
- Risk of losing the personal touch as headcount grew
With Gymdesk
- All-in on OCTA — one tool running the operation daily
- Lead pipeline managed from first contact to first class
- One franchise dashboard across all five locations
- Promotions and attendance tracked, reports ready when needed
- 420 students at HQ — and Luiz still knows everyone’s name
Jiu-Jitsu for the Whole Family
OCTA wasn’t built around competition — it was built around families. Kids and adults train together. Parents have a comfortable waiting area. Every location runs the same curriculum, the same colors, the same walls. And every professor brings their own flavor.
“I don’t see Gymdesk as a supplier. I see Gymdesk more as a partner in this journey.”
“What I can offer to the community is the knowledge that I have.”
Run Your Academy. Not Your Inbox.
Gymdesk handles the admin so you can stay on the mat.
